Givers Gain

If you are a business owner then you know networking is key to business growth, from Chamber of Commerce, Meetups and Bni you can test the waters for one that is a great fit for you and your business. 

One favorite is Bni because their model seems to be one to really focus on helping the individual and the business grow.  If you have never heard of them Google them.  Bni is an international networking platform and similar to others only accepts one member to fill the category that represents your business, geared to cut out the competition and allow members to focus and being your marketing team.

Out of the many benefits Bni encompasses for its members the best one is their "Givers Gain" motto.  Focus on giving others business and you will get business in return, if you take this concept  a step further and give your clients a little more, you will also receive more. How about when you clients come in for their session, you go the extra mile and listen to their needs? By doing this you are showing them that you care about their wellness and that you are attentive to what they expect out of their session.  If you take it another step further and after the session point out areas you noticed were restricted, inflamed, or just knotty your client appreciates that. 

Now you are establishing yourself as a wellness professional they can trust, by doing so you can now transition into referrals.  Referrals can be to a Personal Trainer, Physical Therapist, Chiropractor or an Acupuncturist or even to a product you carry like a foam roller, tens unit or acu ball.  Again, your client will be so appreciative of you attention that they will brag to their friends and family about how you went above and beyond.

Remember Givers Gain.

5 Ways To Get Free Education

We all know that massage schools train you to do a massage but do not teach you how to run a business.  Some schools do  have an in-house clinic where you practice how to check in and out clients and how to run the front desk but aside for that there is really no formal training.  You are lucky if during a few weeks they tap into the business book and teach you about a business plan or about local zoning laws.  Here are five ways to help you go in the right direction:

1. Check in with your area to see which bank is community and small business friendly.  Often these banks like to help small business grow and many offer classes even with incentives like if you complete the classes your business qualifies for a credit line.  Liberty Bank is one of those be sure to see if they are in your region or look for one that offers something similar.

2. Find the Economic Development Office in your city and get on their mailing list, they also have classes geared to help small business owners.

3. Join Facebook groups of more than 1k members, you can enter a topic and the search bar and find all the posts related to the information needed and the best part is that you are learning from others in the field.

4.  YouTube has great content and great teachers that put out information to help you for free. Yes, keep an eye on those selling overpriced courses but do not completely rule out investing in a course that expand your business growth.

5.  Podcast are free and full of thousands of professionals discussing every aspect of business you can think of. Subscribe to a few and find your tribe.

If you take these simple tips into consideration, you can be sure that little by little you will learn nuggets to get  your business in the right direction, FOR FREE!

So you want to go out on your own? Here are six tips to help

 

Working for yourself is not easy, in fact it is very risky but it also gives you a sense of accomplishment that you crave for. The issue is that many massage therapist do not have the skills required to run a business and find themselves juggling and learning by trial and error.  Here is some advice to get your entreprenuer imagination prepared for what is ahead.

When it comes down to opening your own business its easy to get enamored by the idea of what it would be like, the decor, the set up, welcoming clients and the ability to make your own schedule and running your business as you wish.  But what you dont learn in school is the ups and downs that are involved in taking such risks and how to prepare for it.  You learn how to massage clients, but unless you are a hustler and go spend a lot of time teaching yourself it is really hard to deal with all aspects of running your business regardless.  Here are six tips to help you along.

Find your NAICS number

Register your Trade name

Check with zoning about your location of choice, each town has their own guidelines

Do not count on clientele from the places you work at, It is unethical!

Be ready get paid last or not at all.

Once your business starts showing profit, talk to your accountant to file taxes as an S-corp and start paying yourself as an employee of your business.

While some of these things seem unimportant at the beginning, at one time or another it will be imperative to have had everything lined up from the start.

18 Additional Services You Can Explore

In an effort to expand offerings or pivot when times are challenging these products or services seem to be the topic of conversation across forums, social media and networking. All come with their share of pros and cons and all require different budgets and risk factors to consider.  

Here is a list of topics at the top of everyone's mind:

Normatec

Hypervolt

Bemer Mat

Infrared Sauna

Cryotherapy

Salt Therapy

Biomat

Oxygen Bar

Bamboo Fusion

Hydra Luxe Body Wrap from Biotone, Ecofin and foot treatment

Paraffin Treatment

Halotherapy

Cryotherapy

Amethyst soaking tub

Quartz sand therapy

Float tanks

Pulse EMF machine

Assisted Stretching

Like everything before you commit and invest in something do your due diligence and research each therapy or service to see if it's a good fit for your business.

A Massage Spot

Retail Solmate

One popular idea you often entertain as your business grows is about getting into retail.  While starting out creating inventory can be an overwhelming task from the initial investment to picking the right products to fit your practice it all boils down to trying what works and what does not work for your clientele and quite frankly there is no way of telling.  You can score big with things like  candles or essential oils or not.  In the end, if you take some of your profits and reinvest it  into  products you are always taking a risk that may or may not pay off.

One company we wanted to feature is Solmate Socks all their products are knit form pre-consumer, recycled cotton yarn.  They collect remnants from t-shirt factories that would normally go into a landlfill, grind them down and re-spin them into their own yarns.  How cool is that for a talking point with your clients about zero waste.  Textiles take up nearly 8 percent of our country's landfills so you can rest assure by partnering with a company like Solmate you can make a little money and do your part in reducing waste.

A Massage Spot

 

3 Reasons to use AliExpress

First of all! Disclaimer: We do not get paid to promote AliExpress but sure wish we did, will have to look into that. LOL,  Let's move on to the point of this article.

Many small personal services business start expanding into retail at one point or another.  You can order from Amazon  and up sell and/or purchase items on sale elsewhere and do the same.  Once your business grows you may find it harder to find products to sell other than Essential Oil companies that are the norm and some skin care companies.   But what about everything else?  Massage tools, wellness gadgets and so on.   AliExpress is a great avenue to explore products because of the following:

You can create an e-commerce store or shopping cart on your website with featured product using drop shipping companies that mail directly to the customer.

You can purchase cheap items  bulk for your retail area to make a substantial profit.

You can find companies that send products with FREE SHIPPING or LOW SHIPPING.

The one downfall is that depending on your vendor it can take 2-5 weeks for arrival but who cares, you stand to make good profits so go for it!

A Massage Spot

Feature Product

 

This little life saving gadget can be a great add on to your services in combination with a massage or stand alone service.  It is totally safe to use and can even be a source of additional income because you can purchase and up sell by a few $$ to your clients.  Check out the one we recommend on our page that you can find in Amazon in many styles and sizes or at your local pharmacy.  

Clients often come in with muscle spasms and this guy right here can be a great product to refer your clients to purchase.  Sure a massage will help, but so will something like this.  Your clients will appreciate the fact that in addition to a great massage you also refer products they can use at home for self care.

A Massage Spot

5 reasons why newsletters are still a good idea?

Daily, weekly, monthly or nothing at all?  How often do you send out newsletters to your growing email list? Or do you think is something of the past or maybe something not worth your time?

5 reasons newsletters are a good idea:

1. Help keep your clients informed and engaged.  Newsletters if used appropriately are a great way to keep your clients in the loop of new services or changes to your practice.

2.  A great avenue to educate clients.  Sending periodical newsletters with information about your industry helps raise awareness of where your business is headed as it continues to grow.

3.  Used as a way to avoid awkward conversations with difficult clients when its time to raise prices.

4.  A newsletter is a chance to allow your clients to get to know you more, you can  be yourself as you keep them informed.

5.  A newsletter is an easy way to ask clients for reviews as you can also include the links to all the  platforms. 

A Massage Spot

 

Stop Discounting Services

 Business is slow and your first "Call To Action" is to offer a discount.  STOP IT!  

Instead of discounting your services you can offer packages or create a client loyalty program for referrals.  This way your regulars clients get a little discount while ensuring they are return clients of yours because they prepaid and those who did not purchase a package can earn a discount by bragging about your services to their friends and family. No, you do not have to offer anything at all but it does go a long way to create little incentives here and there without devaluing your time but showing your appreciation.

So how do you deal with clients asking for a discount outside of packages or referral program?  You can post on your website, social media and check-out area the following message:   All sessions are priced according to my experience and continuing education while taking industry rates into consideration. By having this posted it can avoid that awkward conversation when the clients asks about  discounts during checkout and if they do, just point them to read it.

A Massage Spot

Building Relationships

Relationships, the gift that keeps on giving!  Building relationships and networking is key to position your business to have everything in place to thrive especially in Personal Services.  As the business owner it can be challenging  to carve out time to network and build relationships with your busy schedule because often times;  if you stop, the business also stops.  

In the beginning, you are often a solo practitioner until you decide its time to grow your business by adding to your team.  This is especially the time when you want to tap into all those people in your network and your friends list that you know.  One thought to keep top of mind,  "Everyone is a potential client or a Referral to one".  Always keep that present,  your favorite coffee shop server, your cashier at TJ Maxx, your hair dresser and yes of course your friends and family. As your business grows, you will realize that more often than not, your referrals are coming from those people that you remain top of mind by either doing business with them or intentionally spending time around them networking in other areas of your life.  

One important piece of advice is that when the business can afford to join a paid networking group like BNI or the Chamber of Commerce go for it, this way you are constantly exposing you and your business to new potential clients.  In the meantime, touch base with everyone you know.  Be intentional about connecting with people remember "Givers Gain" give compliments, make sure to like their posts and give helpful tips and advise under posts that relate to your field of study or on a personal level.  These simple and purposeful gestures will keep you top of mind and can serve as an open door to foster that relationship so that it can lead to them becoming a quality referral or client in the future.  It is true "Your Network determines your Net worth"

Be encouraged to continue to build long lasting relationships.

A Massage Spot

Continuous uncertainty in personal services industry

 

The personal services industry survived the 2020 Covid pandemic shutdown, or so we thought! As 2021 started to look promising with vaccinated and non vaccinated clients feeling more comfortable resuming their wellness routines and making the last year's struggle keeping your practice open all worth it.  Now it seems we may face another shutdown, which frankly has everyone scared.  That confidence we were starting to get thinking we were well on our way out of this all points realizing that we aren't.

Is the President calling for another nationwide shutdown?  Do we remain open under a new mask mandate? Is it just a matter of time before we once again close our doors?  Can we withstand another shutdown as a franchisee, small spa/studio owner or a subcontractor?  What will this mean for those that have a passion for what they do?  Will another shutdown of personal services deter massage therapist and estheticians  from returning to the field and go get a job elsewhere?  These are some of the questions and concerns circulating in forums across the nation just when most thought that they were getting back on solid footing after the last year of uncertainty.

While the next few months remain uncertain as to where the industry is headed, one thing is for sure "The future of Personal Services is Beyond our Control"  We are at the mercy of what the  government decides to impose on us based on the information they have to work with whether we agree or disagree.   One thing is for sure, if  we have another shutdown, we will loose many professionals and business owners who will not be able to bounce back a second time.

#Pandemic #PersonalServices #Shutdown #Covid #Massage #Esthetics #SmallBusiness 

A Massage Spot

Need to fill those empty rooms in your practice?

You find yourself with a number of rooms empty in your practice while you make every attempt to promote and hire therapist but nothing post covid seems to be working.   How about turning them in to some extra cash in the meantime?

A great idea to make extra cash is to  rent your room per session, weekly or monthly until business picks up and  you can also help a fellow professional as they build their business.  Keep in mind there are enough clients for everyone, other healthcare professionals or massage therapists are not your competition.  In fact, they can become your top referral source down the road. 

Here is a list of other wellness professionals you should reach out to in your area, who knows!  Maybe they downsized after covid or are not ready to commit to leasing office space until the economy stabilizes and you can help them as they  help you.

Eyelash Technicians

Nail Technicians

Acupuncturist 

Personal Trainers

Yoga Instructors

Reiki Practitioners

Meditation Practitioners

Artist

Put your thinking hat on, who do you know?  Post on social media on your personal and business pages letting others know that you have space you are willing to share.

It does not hurt to try, go for it!

A Massage Spot

Hypervolt, Yay or Nay?

 

Thinking of adding a Hypervolt to your practice?

A Hypervolt massage gun is a great addition to your practice.  It is especially popular with athletes or those looking to get for a quick boost to their muscles. Here are our ways you can use it to boost your services:

1. Offer it as a stand alone service.  During this type of session your client can remain fully dressed and you can charge per minute or a flat free.

2. Offer it as an add on service at the start or before finishing your session for at least 15 minutes and charge accordingly for your time.

3. Combine the use of the massage gun with a mobility/stretch session of at least 30 minutes.

4. Use it during chair massage to save your hands.

While there are many massage guns to choose from, you will find that if you research the industry HYPERICE HYPERVOLT is the top of the line, the company recently also acquired Normatec and continually adds products to their offerings.

A Massage Spot

Hiring Post Covid

 

Anyone struggling to find  therapist to meet the demands of your  practice?

The Covid 19 Pandemic hit personal services with a double whammy.  Not only was the profession completely shut down but once cleared to reopen in addition to loosing clients, lost staff all while desperately finding ways to keep the doors open.  It's no surprise that many small studios went out of business and a lot of therapists have yet to return to the industry a year later.  So what do you do?

One thing that all businesses who remained open thru Covid have in common was to Pivot in ways like never before.  Finding creative ways in order to make your place of employment appealing for therapist to return to the workforce.  One popular way is to offer sign on bonuses just like Amazon does.  While this seems out of the norm of the massage industry, business owners are growing desperate.  Let us address the elephant in the room!

The truth is that therapist do not want to return to the workforce is mainly for these 3 reasons:

1.  Making more money from unemployment

2.  Are genuinely fearful of contracting the virus and bringing it home to their loved ones.

3. Don't feel comfortable wearing a mask for 60-90 minute sessions.

All reasonable and understandable to some degree, so what do you do? How do you find therapist when even trying to offer a bonus does not work?  

Here are some ideas:

1. Reach out to the near by schools or teachers you may still have contact with, the school usually has a job bank.

2. Linkedin has a feature to post a job free of charge.

3. American Massage Association also has a job bank to list your position.

4. Facebook also allows you to create a job using your business page

5. Use your network, post on your own social media platforms in case you have friends that have friends.

6. Facebook groups is another great FREE way to post your job.  Join groups of 1,000 members of more, preferably in you own back yard where you will find those in your own community eager to help.

The last year has been  unexpectedly harsh for staff and clients alike, hang in there.  "This too Shall Pass"

A Massage Spot